Technology Woes

As you may already know, our home internet, along with our phone line, has been down for nearly a week. We cancelled our satellite TV over a year ago, so have been getting all our TV via the internet as well. Our son gave us an antenna for Christmas last year, but he never got around to installing it on the roof or elsewhere outside, so it is sitting on the bookcase in our living room, where it receives spotty reception. It’s like the good old days, back in the sixties, when you had to manually turn the antenna every time you changed channels. The remote control is the only thing still working in our house.

Which reminds me, only a few days before this millennial black-out at my house, my laptop died. It’s not been a good month.

Last Friday, my daughter graciously gave me her laptop, which she hardly ever used. I’d put most of my files from the old laptop onto USBs over the summer, so haven’t lost a whole lot, and we were able to resurrect the device long enough to capture the most recent files of my current novel.

I had hoped to publish that novel and have a print copy in hand by Thanksgiving. Already a month ago, I pushed that date back to mid-December. Now, it’s simply not going to happen until sometime after the first of the year.

You would think, that with nothing else to do electronically at home, that I would at least have finished editing it, formatting it, and creating the final the cover. Instead, I’m lying on the couch, watching old episodes of Columbo and Bones, the only things of interest on TV via antenna, or the first two seasons of Friends on DVD. I’m looking at that whole shelf of DVD movies, thinking we may just have to start with the A’s and watch our way through them.

Our internet/phone carrier won’t be here until the 29^th to try to find the problem. Thank God for cell phones (albeit with spotty coverage). And that I’m still working part-time at the clinic, where I am posting this via their internet.

But back to my novel. Here are four more samples covers. Last time I asked your opinion, many of you didn’t like the circles with a different color background around the words. So, I got rid of all of that. Some people also thought there should be a blurb of what the book was about. There was also mixed feelings about having a picture of the schoolhouse and questions about what a RASA novel was.

If you don’t remember those other covers, you can check the previous blog post, otherwise, just let me know what you think of these. Also which tagline do you like better – “They won’t rewrite the past, but they can rewrite the now” or “It might take the future to save the past.”

Thanks again for everything. I love you all. Chris

#1

#2

#3

#4 - something totally different

More Covers

Yesterday, I finished another edit of my latest novel, “Prior to Now”. I hope to start formatting the manuscript and finalize the cover this week. My original goal was to be in the process of publishing it by now, but you can’t rush a fine wine, right?

Here are the latest ideas for front covers that I’ve come up with. Let me know which one is your favorite, why, and how it could be improved.

Also, if you’ve forgotten, the book is about three women who are devoted to a one-room schoolhouse. One woman, Emma, is the school’s teacher from 1858 into the twentieth century. The other two women live in the near future, sometime in the mid-2030s, and they are committed to saving the old building from destruction.  

I plan to start sharing snippets of it soon.

Thanks for your ideas and your support. 

#1 

#2

#3

#4

Novel Update

I thought I should post a mid-month update on the progress of my latest novel as well as ask your opinions on the cover. I’m 70% through the first round of edits. My goal is to finish editing the entire book by the end of the month.

Two weeks from today, I leave for another trip to Kenya. This will be my seventh journey there, as hard as that is to believe, and for the first time, it is going to be mostly a pure vacation. We don’t have any volunteer work planned, but we are still open to whatever our hosts ask of us.

When I get back on October 18, I’ll do another edit on the book as well as finalize the cover. Then by the first of November, I hope to start working on publishing it on Amazon.

Uffda, that’s a lot of ground to cover, both literally and figuratively.

As you may recall from my mid-August post, the novel is about three women – one living in the mid-eighteen hundreds and two in the very near future. The future setting – ten years or so from now – is somewhat dystopian, and it’s up to the two heroines living then to initiate the change to bring our country back to normalcy. The one-room schoolhouse in Prior Ridge (formerly Prior Gulch) is the pivotal character in all of this.  Also, the teacher who worked there when the school first opened is an inspiration to the other two women.

Here are some of the cover concepts I’ve come up with based on that premise. Remember, they are just ideas; I’m sure whichever is the closest to the best one still needs some work. I just wonder which concept to move forward with. Or I could scrap them all.

Oh, and last thing. The title went from “Save Our School” to “Rewrite the Now,” but I want to thank one of Hubby’s cousins for sending me the winning title – “Prior to Now.” Thanks, Sherry! 

Thought #1 - mostly about the setting - farm land in the upper Midwest

#2 - focus on the one-room school, but needs a better graphic artist than me so it doesn't looked plopped on the page

#3 - my great-grandmother Anna posing as the school teacher Emma

#4 - great-granma again, but in both 3 and 4, she needs to stop hovering. 

where did august go?

 For all that I had happening in August, I did really well on my goals. Not only did I accomplish three-fifths of them, but I also went camping for a week, hosted a friend from out of town for four days, went to Iowa to visit Hubby’s brother for three days, took my sister to her class reunion, had a dentist appointment AND worked at the clinic for six and a half days!

Wow! I told myself I wouldn’t book a month that full again, and – well – I’ll tell you about that shortly.

Here are my August goals:

1.     Finish writing my novel, “Rewrite the Now.” Yes, the rough draft is finished, as you may already have heard.

2.     Come up with some cover concepts for it. I keep thinking about it but haven’t had any luck coming up with anything specific.  

3.     Keep organizing the photos on my laptop. Hmm? Not really.

4.     Wash half of the windows in my house. Let’s see, I washed 75% of the house’s windows. I so wanted to finish them this week, but I worked those three days at the old job instead.  

5.     Tend to my vegetable garden, freezing what can be frozen and tearing down what is done for the season. Yup, I’ve been freezing cherry tomatoes and zucchini like crazy. Even bought green beans and a head of cabbage at the farmer’s market and froze those. Also, took down half the garden which was done producing.

Here we are in September already. And this month is booked as full as August. I’m going camping with my son one weekend, which coincides with a research trip for my current novel, so I can’t complain about that. I’m also visiting a friend out of state for three days, and Hubby’s nephew and his wife are coming for a weekend. And I leave for my trip to Kenya on October 2, so I probably should plan and pack before then.

In late August, I heard that two of my co-workers were quitting, which is why I worked those extra three days the end of the month. One of those days, the manager asked me into her office to find out if I’d work any days in September. I told her which days I was free, and she put me on the schedule pretty much all of them.

Oh, and I forgot, that as I post this, I am at my daughter’s house, dog sitting for her. Which is actually okay, because I have lots of free time to edit my novel.

Here we go September goals:

1.     Finish the first round of edits on my novel. Oh, and by the way, I changed the name of it to “Prior to Now.” It takes place in a town named Prior Ridge, and the story flips back and forth from the past to the now, so I kinda like the new name. Thanks goes out to the friend who thought of it.

2.     Make the cover for the novel. This has got me stumped, but I will get on it.

3.     Finish washing those last three windows in the house.

4.     Take down my garden for the year. Not much is growing anymore out there, oh, except for those stupid zucchinis!

5.     Finish planning our trip to Kenya. Yeah!

I think that is enough for the month. Come October, I have two weeks to relax in Kenya; not even dragging along my laptop. Then two weeks to finish up the novel. Life is good, albeit busy.      

Wishing you the very best. Chris 

Looking for a much smaller schoolhouse, made of brick, for my novel's cover. Yes, I could find a stock photo, but where is the fun in that? 

Exciting News

 I’m proud to announce that last night I finished writing my latest novel. The story is told from the perspective of three very different women who have one thing in common – a one-room schoolhouse built in 1860.

Emma Thomas, fresh out of high school, becomes the schoolmarm in the small town of Prior Gulch. Not only is she committed to the students that she teaches, but she has also been entrusted with keeping a secret about her schoolhouse.  

Sarah Ford is in her thirties and recently divorced. Decades after the school has closed, she moves into the house next door and soon learns of its secret.

Ellen Jenkins, who is pushing sixty, has been working for the federal government for ten years. She and her team are sent to the school building to destroy it because of its secret, but she will do anything to save it.

What is the secret of this small, brick building? And will these three women, who are committed to it, be able to save it?

When I started writing this book over two years ago, I gave it the working title of “Save Our School.” Pretty lame. At the end of chapter 11, one of Ellen’s partners says, “we can’t rewrite history, but we can rewrite the now.” At that point, I changed the title to “Rewrite the Now.”

Now, however, I’m not so sure that title is as catchy as I first thought. I am racking my brain to think of a new one. So far, the only other thing I’ve come up with is: “Where We Were Prior” (as the town is Prior Gulch and the whole premise is preserving our history);

If you would like to read the rough draft, I’d be happy to email you a copy. Just remember, it still needs a lot of editing, but I’d like to know what people think of the premise, the people, and their problems. And, of course, what you think an appropriate title might be.

Thanks so much. Chris 

Once I have a title, I next need to work on the cover. This picture of my great-grandmother was taken around 1910. A bit later than when Emma was teaching at the school, but I still imagine this is what she might have looked like. Do you think I could incorporate it into the cover? 

Monthly Check-In

 I’ve been posting my monthly goals on the first Sunday of every month. I wanted to post an update sooner than today, as we are a week into August already, but such is life.

I’m not going to lie. I did stupendous on my July goals. Success, or at least close, on every point. I’m lovin’ this retirement gig! Or I had been until I ended up working three and a half days this week. Argh!

My July goals:

1.     Write twelve chapters in “RTN”. Done!

2.     Think about a new title for the novel. “Rewrite the Now” is no longer as catchy as it was when I started. A vague goal. I thought about some but came up with nothing.

3.     Think about a cover and other promotions for it. Another vague goal. And another one which I thought about, a lot, actually. Nothing jumping out at me though.

4.     Start organizing the pictures on my laptop. Yes, I worked on this a lot.  

5.     Clean the cat’s room in the basement. Yes, done!

I have managed to over-book myself for the month of August. Camping for five days, friend from out of state coming for four days, visit to see Hubby’s brother for three days, my sister’s class reunion (a long story of why I have to go). I count money at church every Sunday. I have a dentist’s appointment. Hubby has an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon for his knee. And I even scheduled an appointment to donate blood! In addition to the fact that I already worked three and a half days this month.

It's going to be okay, though. Except that someone at work just turned in their two-week notice, so I’m waiting for the manager to call begging me to work whenever I can. But you know what else, once I get through this month and September, I am off to Kenya for the first two weeks in October. It has been three long years (thank you, Covid) since I’ve been to Africa and I cannot wait to see our friends who live there. We are also hoping to take a trip to the coast of the Indian Ocean, which looks amazing. CANNOT WAIT!

But, I still have to get things done in August:

1.     Finish writing my novel, “Rewrite the Now.” (I only have about five or six more chapters to write.)

2.     Come up with some cover concepts for it.

3.     Keep organizing the photos on my laptop.

4.     Wash half of the windows in my house.

5.     Tend to my vegetable garden, freezing what can be frozen and tearing down what is done for the season.

That should about do it, I think.

Wishing you the very best. Chris 

Our weekly July camping trip to Michigan. Had a wonderful time. And wrote almost every day. 

Monthly Check-In

 Well finally, I have made some progress on my goals. It took actually being done working at the clinic, except for the four days for the month of June when they begged me to work to cover vacations and someone out sick.

My June goals:

1. Reread my work in progress, “Rewrite the Now”, again. Done

2. Write two chapters in “RTN”. Wrote seven chapters!

3. Clean the guest room closet and my linen closet. Really? I got through half of the guest room closet and totally lost focus.

4. Organize my pile of USB drives and start saving stuff from off my computer. Done.

5. Clean up and organize the pictures on my computer. Nope. #4 was enough.

6. Start a new sewing project. Nope, but I bought more fabric!

7. Bonus goal – Hubby and I painted the kitchen and dining room.

Here we are on the fourth of July, and instead of celebrating my country’s independence, I am trying to work on my monthly goals. It will be a busy month, so I need to keep my motivation going. I have two trips planned and company coming one weekend, as well as being scheduled to work at the clinic two days (apparently, I can’t yet say no.).

My July goals:

1.     Write twelve chapters in “RTN”.

2.     Think about a new title for the novel. “Rewrite the Now” is no longer as catchy as it was when I started.  

3.     Think about a cover and other promotions for it.

4.     Start organizing the pictures on my laptop.

5.     Clean the cat’s room in the basement.

That will keep me busy. Plus, it is summer, so I have to take advantage of any nice weather we have. Have to get enough sun to keep me stocked with Vitamin D to get through our miserable winters.

Wishing you an Endless Summer. Chris 

Before and after of our dining room wall.